The Effect that lighting has on the atmosphere around you

[Ryan Hurley]

Hi guys

As part of my elective project at university I have decided to look at the question, what effect does the lighitng have around us.

 

I have decided to take a very detailed look into this and really find out how much of an importance it pays.

 

Rather than looking at the obvious side such us how it affects the working world and how light can affect the way we work, ive decided to look from a view of why we use it?

 

by this I mean in clubs, and bars, in theatre and live events, and other entertainment based events.

 

We could easy just have a general cover light so that people can see each other and the surroundings, but why instead is there a need for designers and technicians and the reason on how the lighting around us really does affect the atmosphere we are in.

 

Any views and opinions would be a very appreciated as at the moment I really need something to keep start my research, and give a research path to follow.

 

Thanks guys for any help what so ever <_<

[Just Some Bloke]

We always like to hear what thoughts students themselves have on an issue before conributing our own, simply to prove that we're not doing their projects for them! We're very happy to contribute to a discussion, but perhaps you'd like to start the ball rolling with some thoughts of your own, Ryan?

[Smiffy]

What Just Some Bloke said! <_<

 

There's a lot of very experienced people here who will be able to help you out. However we do like to know a bit about you, your college/uni and what your thoughts on the matter are first

 

Cheers

 

Smiffy

[paulears]

The Effect that lighting has on the atmosphere around you

 

To be fair - it's a pretty poor question - and before we even answer it, are you sure you mean 'effect' and not 'affect'? It makes a big difference?

 

Do you mean the lighting generates emotional responses and the atmosphere' is the distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing, or are we talking technical in that the lighting causes a physical change in the atmosphere.

 

I'd expect a tutor to rip this question to pieces - and if they don't, they should have - it's a very ambiguous question at best, and grammatically tangled at worst.

[dmxtothemax]

As a person who has enjoyed lighting for many years I can say that yes lighting can effect the atmoshere of a room, so too can the colors. if you accent certain colors and use the right color temp then it is more condusive to softer atmoshere and happier people.

soft directed lighting accentting certain areas or features rather than bright broad lighting, helps a lot.

[Just Some Bloke]

Paul hits several nails on the head here.

 

Hi guys

As part of my elective project at university I have decided to look at the question, what effect does the lighitng have around us.

When you say "the lighting" it would appear from what you say later that you're only taking about artificial light? The amount of sun coming through a window, for instance, can be just as important. Can you confirm you're ignoring that?

I have decided to take a very detailed look into this and really find out how much of an importance it pays.

I assume you mean "plays".

Rather than looking at the obvious side such us how it affects the working world and how light can affect the way we work, ive decided to look from a view of why we use it?

 

by this I mean in clubs, and bars, in theatre and live events, and other entertainment based events.

All of those places tend to be black boxes so without light we wouldn't see anything. That's why we use it. Do you mean "how we use it" or "why we use particular styles or types of lighting" or would you like to explain your choice of words there?

 

We could easy just have a general cover light so that people can see each other and the surroundings, but why instead is there a need for designers and technicians and the reason on how the lighting around us really does affect the atmosphere we are in.

I think we're getting to the crux of the matter here. It's a good point and worthy of investigation. The basics, though, are pretty straightforward so I'm sure you have something to start us off with. From there we'll be happy to suggest other directions.

Any views and opinions would be a very appreciated as at the moment I really need something to keep start my research, and give a research path to follow.

What does "keep start" mean?

 

I don't want to sound too negative here. I think it's a good idea to look into this matter, but I do worry that a university elective project should be at a university standard not a BTEC standard and so you need to choose your terms carefully. Ensure you've set the right boundaries, expressed them correctly and then go into proper detail to warrant a good grade.

 

At the end of the day a person wanting a degree in a subject shouldn't need other people to start them off on their elective project. [Or even "keep start"(sic) them].

Once you've proved to us that you don't then we could get an interesting thread going here.

[LXbydesign]

Prehaps as well you could start by doing your own research.

 

At least, explore the fundimentals of lighting design in theatre - as a starting point - from books and internet based material. this will explain what type of lighting as a source was originally used, how it was used, what was used to create effects (if any), when was the turning point that lighting was actually DESIGNED for a show other than just a general fill to provide illumination and so on. The types of lamps used from early on right though to present day and so on.

 

As a tounge in cheek answer - if nobody cared about 'how the lighting looked , so long as you could see people' then us LD's would be out of a job! - or made a damn site easier!! Ie, ok , we'll just whack up a load of floods on these bars, power them up, thankyou very much - job done!! Next . . . .

[dmxtothemax]

Prehaps as well you could start by doing your own research.

 

At least, explore the fundimentals of lighting design in theatre - as a starting point - from books and internet based material. this will explain what type of lighting as a source was originally used, how it was used, what was used to create effects (if any), when was the turning point that lighting was actually DESIGNED for a show other than just a general fill to provide illumination and so on. The types of lamps used from early on right though to present day and so on.

 

As a tounge in cheek answer - if nobody cared about 'how the lighting looked , so long as you could see people' then us LD's would be out of a job! - or made a damn site easier!! Ie, ok , we'll just whack up a load of floods on these bars, power them up, thankyou very much - job done!! Next . . . .

 

 

I think most lighting guys would agree that lighting helps atmosphere,

but dont know the technicalities of it or why,

could be an interesting learning curve for many of us.

[Sam Jelfs]

Just a quick comment, whilst to a certain extent I agree with the "you start the discussion, we will join in" comments, there is also the issue of not influencing the participants. With the right questions asked, the person posing the questions shouldn't be giving their answers, and possibly leading the answers of the participants...

[Albatross]

The Effect that lighting has on the atmosphere around you

 

To be fair - it's a pretty poor question - and before we even answer it, are you sure you mean 'effect' and not 'affect'? It makes a big difference?

 

Do you mean the lighting generates emotional responses and the atmosphere' is the distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing, or are we talking technical in that the lighting causes a physical change in the atmosphere.

 

 

I've got to agree here. The grammar and spelling used for this will totally change the answer you get.

 

(affect versus effect)

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/affec...sus-effect.aspx

 

If you mean what affect does lighting have on the air nearby, well that is fairly simple, the more light the more heat, and the air will warm up. What happens to the air then will be determined by it's enclosure. The air will attempt to expand, and the warmer air will rise.

 

What I expect you really want to ask is what affect does lighting have on mood/feelings, and how does different lighting change this.

Well that is a huge topic and years of experience will still have you learning things till the day you die !

This one will have many many answers as there are so many variables...

 

 

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

What does "keep start" mean?

.

 

I took that as poorly repeated or misheard version of 'kick start', meaning he wanted a starting idea.

[paulears]

As the OP has not been back to the forum to see what responses came from his post, I think we should assume he's a: got the answer he needed, or b: got told the question was a bit iffy.

 

Either way, it's probably not worth us expending any more of our effort on answering further until he pops up again.

Paul

[Ryan Hurley]

Hi guys sorry the late reply, I have been very busy with events on etc.

Sorry for the lack of information I gave you at the start and the way I worded it.

Grammar has never been my best point ** laughs out loud **.

 

What I meant to say is that I am researching into the way that lighting affects the atmosphere in bars and clubs.

The obvious purpose is that it means we can see, but doing more research its obvious that lighting also sets the mood and can have a big impact on the night.

Im a London light jockey myself, I did a load of new programming in my club and straight away I could notice a big difference in the atmosphere, from this I know it affects the atmosphere.

 

I have researched into, the affect of colour, intensity and emailed many clubs asking them about there lighting design.

 

I am going to turn my uni theatre into a club for two nights, one with what I would regard as a good club lighting set up and the other having your small pub style set up (Cheap and not very good).

 

This is an experiment to show that it does affect the atmosphere around us.

 

What im trying to do is find out what you guys think about lighting.

I know that many of you are very experienced and and can give me some very good information.

 

attached below is two letters that I have sent out to Lighting insulation company's and the other to dj's.

 

If you guys could please read these and comment as you like on your own opinions of the questions..

 

 

 When a club approaches you wanting a lighting installation installed, what questions do you ask them? (E.g.)

o What effect do you want to create? (Atmosphere .E.g. Club look, Chilled, Expensive)

o Is the lighting going to operated or use Sound to Light Input?

o What is your reason for wanting the insulation?

o Is there a certain Light you want, E.g.

L E D

Moving Heads,

Lanterns (Parcans, Source Fours, Strobes

 Do you find most companies realise the affect of lighting in a club and see it as an importance in creating a good atmosphere? Or do you find that clubs aren’t too fussed about their lighting design?

 

(Lighting company questions)

 

 Some clubs tend to have a very small bar/Club dance floor with lonely a few light sources.

Do you think this tends to be because they don’t realise the affect of lighting on the atmosphere or the Fact they don’t have the money to pay for a good lighting insulation?

 Does your company approach clubs with a very limited Lighting insulation and offer them a better insulation?

 

 Do most clubs tend to buy the lights for their insulation or are most lighting Insulations in general Feature Rented Lights.

 

 When completing a Lighting Insulation for a club, does your company tend to program them a list of effects for the lights that can be controlled by the Bar staff/DJ/Manager, or do you recommend them to employ a Lighting Tech/Jockey to Control the Lighting Desk?

 

 

(DJ'S)

 

1. In your own option do you feel that lighting is Important to a good Live atmosphere? E.g. moving lights on the dance floor, Strobe Light When Beat Drops.)

 

2. Do you tend to find that clubs with only a small lighting insulation tend to not have the same atmosphere as clubs with a Big Lighting Insulation?

 

3. Do you find that generally when a club has a Light Tech/Jockey that the lighting looks better than when there just a few effects programmed that can be changed now and again? (By ether the DJ/Bar Staff E.g.)

 

 

Your opinons on these questions would be great to as well as anything else you think may be useful to me.

 

Thanks guys and sorry late reply.

[Paul TC]

lighting insulation

[abbotsmike]

Please, please, please tell me you haven't sent that out. If you have, then I wouldn't be expecting any replies. If you haven't, may I recommend finding a friend/lecturer/tutor to proof read it for you?

[dmxtothemax]

Are you trying to understand the effect lighting has on peoples moods, ???

Or are you trying to start up a night club ???

Whilst linked each side involves a long involved answer.

Per haps you would get more meaningful information if you,

asked a series of specific questions,

most of your enquiries are very general and there fore specific answers are difficult.

Most people seem to agree that lighting does effect moods / atmoshpere.

I would think that most people trying to start up a club/pub/dancefloor,

probably dont put much thought into it, but leave it to the dj.

Big mistake, but probably close to home.

I would suggest you look around and find an old book on theatre style lighting

the older books seem to go into much more detail on lighting angles and colors

and how they are used to express mood and atmosphere.

I have an old book from the 50s, it goes into lots of detail about these things.

 

If you are after info on starting up a club, then thats a different slant which we can go into if you wish.